The EPA held their annual Conference in
Dublin recently. The conference “Towards 2020: The Environment
in Ireland’s Future” was organized by the EPA and the
Department of the Environment and took place at the Burlington Hotel
Conference Centre on the 3rd and 4th of September, 2007.

“The EPA’s invitation to Dr
Dominick Hogg to address the largest conference on environmental policy
and waste management is hopefully the beginning of a process to look
seriously at Ireland’s waste management requirements for the
next 20 years, a CHASE spokeswoman said yesterday.”

Dr. Hogg is one of the authors of the
most recent report on waste management in Ireland, commissioned by
Greenstar, one of the largest waste firms in the State. The company
had no part in drafting the reports findings or conclusions.

The report claims Ireland needs to develop
an alternative to the incinerator proposals or it will face fines
running into millions of euro for failing to meet EU waste targets.
It also warns that the way the waste business is regulated could act
as a barrier to private firms investing in facilities around the state.

Dr Dominick Hogg, the chief author, said there was an over emphasis
on incinerators in local and national plans. He said the economies
of scale meant that large volumes of waste were needed before incineration
becomes economically viable. The requirement for large volumes of
waste runs the risk of crowding out recycling in Ireland’s battle
to meet EU targets.

According to the report, the Republic will have to meet stringent
EU targets on reducing the amount of biodegradable waste going to
landfill. It recommends that smaller facilities which provide mechanical
and biological treatments should be examined as alternatives to incineration
and landfill. Such plant, which are popular in Germany, Austria and
Italy, remove recyclable and biological materials through mechanical
and biological means, with residual waste transferred primarily to
modern landfill.

He calls into question the superiority of incineration
over landfill and states that the environmental costs of incineration
are higher than landfill when one takes into consideration air emissions,
dis-amenity effects and heath risks.

His report agrees with the Oireachtas report
in September 2006 which calls for a rethink on the policy of mass
incineration and the need to look at the alternative technologies
that would allow Ireland to lead the way in innovative thinking in
modern waste management and out-perform our EU colleagues, as we have
done with the smoking and plastic bag levy.